Both Basketball Canada general manager Steve Nash (right) and head coach Jay Triano (left), pictured this week in Toronto, have strong connections to B.C., Nash growing up on the West Coast and starring at St. Michael’s University School in Victoria while Triano was a standout for Simon Fraser University.

TORONTO — Wayne Parrish, the president and CEO of Basketball Canada, read off a list of accomplishments by Canada’s basketball community this week that was almost dizzying to behold.

Before introducing senior men’s national team general manager Steve Nash and head coach Jay Triano at a news conference at the Air Canada Centre, Parrish explained why basketball could be transitioning into the sport of choice among a younger generation of Canadians.

• Anthony Bennett taken first overall in the 2013 NBA draft, joining Kelly Olynyk (13th) to become the first two Canadian lottery picks in the same year.

• Thirty-six Canadians participated in the NCAA tournament known as March Madness.

• Kayla Alexander drafted eighth overall by the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.

• A silver medal for the cadette women’s national team at the FIBA Americas under-16 tournament.

• A bronze for the cadet men’s national team at the FIBA under-16s.

• The developmental men’s national team just missing a medal (fourth) at the World Student Games.

• The Canadian junior men’s national team placing sixth at the FIBA under-19 world championships, their highest finish in the event.

For the sake of some brevity, the achievements must end there.

Yet, as Nash mentioned later, Canadian basketball is sailing into a “golden age” -- one that he helped promote more than 20 years ago as a student at St. Michael’s University School in Victoria. From MVP at the 1992 B.C. high school boys basketball tournament, to Santa Clara University, to Phoenix Suns draft pick, to two-time NBA MVP, to general manager of the Canadian men’s national team … Nash has been a charismatic trailblazer, pulling along others in his slipstream and raising the consciousness of basketball in Canada.

“Steve has been absolutely tremendous,” Parrish said. “He is the catalyst for all that’s happening. When Steve and I first discussed him taking this (senior men’s) program on, it was based on his own experience. He is absolutely compelling for athletes and corporate sponsors, high net worth individuals in a program we call The Sixth Man. He has the ability to articulate his vision to that group and get them on board. Then, to watch his dynamic personality on the floor with young players, as he works out with them, as they see his work ethic, conveys to them a sense of purpose I don’t think anybody else could. His heart and his passion instil what this can mean for their careers. He could easily be a tremendous GM in the NBA one day. I don’t know if he wants to do that. But his eye is certainly expert in spotting talent, and in knowing how certain players can work together.”

The Canadian men have not earned a place in the Olympic Games tournament since 2000, when Nash was the team’s point guard, spiritual and practical leader, virtually carrying the team on his back.

Now, the 39-year-old GM, coach Triano and Parrish, who supplies the business savvy, are pointing toward berths in the 2014 FIBA world championships in Spain and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The process continues on Friday with 18 players reporting for a national training camp in Toronto — but with some notable absences. Bennett (shoulder) and Olynyk (foot) are unavailable. Andrew Wiggins, considered the best high school-aged player in the world, has commitments as a first-year student at the University of Kansas that will prevent him from playing.

Nash, Triano and Parrish all have roots or basketball backgrounds in British Columbia. Though he grew up in Niagara Falls, Ont., Triano played college basketball at Simon Fraser University before joining legendary coach Jack Donohue on the men’s national team. He played in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics as the team captain. When the NBA arrived in Vancouver in 1995, Triano became director of community relations for the Vancouver Grizzlies and worked as a colour commentator on their radio broadcasts.

Parrish was born in Vancouver, graduated from Winston Churchill secondary school and went on to a career in sports journalism before he transitioned into a media executive.

“At one time, the Canadian national team was made up primarily of players from the West,” Triano remarked. “But that’s not the case any more. This (Toronto) is going to be our home base for most of the time we’re training. Most of the players are from this area.”

Indeed, the roots of players at the national camp are evidence of the power of the NBA in major urban centres such as Toronto, and Vancouver, where the Grizzlies only lasted for six years but sparked an uptick in hoops enthusiasm that is still pronounced, even though the team left for Memphis in 2001.

As well, changes in Canada’s immigration policies more than 30 years ago have seen the children of immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean take up basketball as their sport of choice.

NBA and national team players/prospects Tristan Thompson (Brampton, Ont.), Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga, Ont.), Cory Joseph (Pickering, Ont.), Bennett (Brampton) and Toronto’s Myck Kabongo, a guard who could go in next year’s NBA first round, all come from the greater Toronto region. Forward Levon Kendall (Vancouver) and guard Philip Scrubb (Richmond) are the only B.C. athletes at the camp, with Olynyk (Kamloops) excluded.

“Jack (Donohue) always had the dream of Canada being a good player on the international scene,” Triano said. “We played a very high level when he was the coach. But I don’t think anybody thought we would be at this stage, with (NBA) lottery picks to choose from. Next year, Canada will have potentially the No. 1 pick in the draft (Wiggins). The NBA has taken notice. The world has as well.”

Asked if he could take a good share of credit for Canadian basketball’s visibility, Nash deflects such talk. He points out that NBA television viewership is up “something like 19 per cent” because of interest in Canada’s young stars.

He modestly defers from being regarded as “the catalyst” for the boom.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Nash said. “I’m sure I played a small part, along with the high school and college coaches in this country. The NBA being in our country was very important. And the Internet. The game is everywhere in our country. But let’s not kid ourselves. Our team is primarily made up of kids from Toronto. That said, we’ll take a player from anywhere in the country. To see the explosion of talent that’s coming out of our high schools, I could never have predicted that.”

Three years ago, Nash participated in a ritual that originated at the ancient Olympics when he helped light the cauldron at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver-Whistler Winter Games.

It’s not a stretch to suggest he is the torch bearer for Canada’s return to basketball competition in the next Summer Olympics.

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